Chris Christie porn: “You’re going to have to make choices”

posted at 5:54 pm on January 27, 2011 by Allahpundit

Ryan and Bachmann did well, but as an antidote to The One’s dissociative psychological break from fiscal reality, this is the best SOTU rebuttal you’ll see. No fireworks this time; what makes it effective is that it’s so matter-of-fact, to the point where I almost gasped at the bluntness of his response to the cop at the beginning. Retail politics that relies on candor isn’t supposed to work, and it’s really not supposed to work when the subject is fiscal catastrophe and what that means for the average public employee. And yet it works. That’s why this guy gets such a wide berth among righties notwithstanding his squishiness on immigration and gun control, etc. Not only is he willing to make politically toxic cuts, he’s remarkably good at selling them. When was the last time you saw a crowd applaud a governor for essentially telling a cop who’s feeling crunched financially, “Tough”?

Incidentally, this isn’t even the most fun Christie clip out there today. See Eyeblast for that. Click the image to watch.

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I think most people/businesses don’t mind paying some taxes for the good of their city/county/state/country if the money is going to be put to good use and spent wisely. In most cases, it hasn’t been and they just keep asking for more.

I have heard the NJ ad on IL radio many times. While I really like what Christie is doing, NJ is still a blue state. If one moves there, what happens after Christie is out of office? NJ is going to get a liberal again.

IN is the place to move for IL. Especially with Pence almost certainly to be the next Gov.

And this is why I’d vote for Christie over Palin. He’s the best in the business bar none when it comes to selling austerity to the public. I still think Palin falls back on platitudes too often. But Christie isn’t afraid of telling it like it is to anyone, even cops and teachers.

What all the talkies, pundits and politicos out there do not see….AT ALL is that the bulk of us “rightists” be it Republican, Conservative, Libertarian, Tea Party , etc. are bored to death of 2012 line ups with the likes of:

Romney, Huckabaee, Pawlenty, and even….PALIN.

A Cain, West or Christie is who we want and need and if anyone of them run a great campaign with the full backing of the Hill, the power brokers, the GOP establishment and the RNC, that person will be the next POTUS.
PERIOD

Yea, but the ones we’re sick of, the one’s who are leftovers from the last election, the ones who have no chance of winning, will end up being the ones who run. The one’s who show real promise keep saying they won’t run.

And this is why I’d vote for Christie over Palin. He’s the best in the business bar none when it comes to selling austerity to the public. I still think Palin falls back on platitudes too often. But Christie isn’t afraid of telling it like it is to anyone, even cops and teachers.

Doughboy on January 27, 2011 at 6:06 PM

Christie’s cozying up to muslims, his anti-gun stances, and his pro-amnesty stance is why I wouldn’t. Are you going to stay home on primary day since he isn’t running?

I work for the public sector, and while your statement may hold true in some situations, it doesn’t in mine and I consider myself an average state employee. I haven’t had a raise in 4 years, my benefits have been cut, contributions to my pension and 403 have been cut, I don’t know anyone who can afford to retire until they’re in their 60s, and we’re facing a 2% pay cut this year.

Public employee pensions should be abolished–they end up paying out more than they take in. Most public employees could probably be replaced by computers anyway, like cashiers have been.

andy85719 on January 27, 2011 at 6:41 PM

Did it ever occur to you that public employee pensions are a benefit in lieu of a being paid the equivalent of a private sector salary? The same as health care, they give us health care as a tax free benefit in lieu of a wage comparable to what people in the public sector make. Maybe you should do a little research before you make such a blanket (and insulting) statement.

I work for the public sector, and while your statement may hold true in some situations, it doesn’t in mine and I consider myself an average state employee. I haven’t had a raise in 4 years, my benefits have been cut, contributions to my pension and 403 have been cut, I don’t know anyone who can afford to retire until they’re in their 60s, and we’re facing a 2% pay cut this year.

scalleywag on January 27, 2011 at 6:24 PM

Then you are not a part of a public sector Union collective bargaining agreement.

What sets you apart from the rest of the public sector union collective barganing agreements? Were you displaced? Outsourced?

The issue at hand remains, and WILL remain:

The American Taxpaying Citizenry will, going forward, refrain from funding the public sector unions that are bankfruckting (sic) our country.That. Is. It.

Public employee pensions should be abolished–they end up paying out more than they take in. Most public employees could probably be replaced by computers anyway, like cashiers have been.

andy85719 on January 27, 2011 at 6:41 PM

We need to go further and outsource government workers at the city, county, state and federal level. Start with state revenue departments. There’s no reason they should be government employees. Put the work out to bid; low bid wins. If it ends up in India, too bad.

. I haven’t had a raise in 4 years, my benefits have been cut, contributions to my pension and 403 have been cut, I don’t know anyone who can afford to retire until they’re in their 60s, and we’re facing a 2% pay cut this year.

scalleywag on January 27, 2011 at 6:24 PM

I’ll have to work until I die. Do you get more than 1.5% in state contributuions to your 401k?

Exactly. He tells you just like it is, and we could use so much more that nowadays on every level of government. Politicians get so caught up in pandering to all the little identity groups so that can get re-elected, they can’t produce any reform of any real substance.

But Chris Christie doesn’t care if he gets re-elected. He’s doing exactly what he said he would do during his campaign, and if after 4 years the people of New Jersey decide they don’t like it, then they’ll vote him out and live with the consequences.

If we had more politicians who actually cared about results and governing well, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in now.

Let’s just ignore what he’s doing to union thuggery and reigning in massive government spending caused by unions in the public sector that’s never been challenged.

Let’s ignore the water flushing in through the hole in the Titanic that will doom the ocean liner in two hours, and instead start whining about a stack of dishes that fell in a second class eatery at the back of the ship.

I work for the public sector, and while your statement may hold true in some situations, it doesn’t in mine and I consider myself an average state employee. I haven’t had a raise in 4 years, my benefits have been cut, contributions to my pension and 403 have been cut, I don’t know anyone who can afford to retire until they’re in their 60s, and we’re facing a 2% pay cut this year.

scalleywag on January 27, 2011 at 6:24 PM

Then go find a job somewhere else. We, the taxpayers, (and I say this in general because I don’t know where you work) can’t afford you anymore. You’re lucky to have a paycheck at all. Either feel fortunate or we’re going to have to let you go.

It’s no wonder this blow hard spoke out so loudly FOR the Ground Zero Victory Mosque. He’s in bed with a bunch of radical Islamic Supremacists.

This guy is an embarrassment.

gary4205 on January 27, 2011 at 6:21 PM

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He also shot an unarmed moose,fathered 3 or 4 kids with one of his daughters and covered it up by declaring they were nieces,can see France from his house,is completely trailer trash stupid and will be dogged by the MSM for years.

Christie does a great job of candidly laying out the bleak economic situation in NJ. Other governors should take notes. We need more leaders on the national stage who can deliver the same message. Paul Ryan and a few others are starting to.

No no lets just address one problem. I like how you refuse to address the enormous costs associated w/illegal immigration. In my first post I said he was right to address public sector unions. CA spends in excess of $5 billion per year on illegals and has a $26 billion deficit. Sure would be nice to address all the factors bankrupting states.

Christie does a great job of candidly laying out the bleak economic situation in NJ. Other governors should take notes. We need more leaders on the national stage who can deliver the same message. Paul Ryan and a few others are starting to.

Then go find a job somewhere else. We, the taxpayers, (and I say this in general because I don’t know where you work) can’t afford you anymore. You’re lucky to have a paycheck at all. Either feel fortunate or we’re going to have to let you go.

KSgop on January 27, 2011 at 7:39 PM

I didn’t mean to come across as whining, I’m thankful to have the job I have. But when someone complains about all public workers being a burden to taxpayers I resent that. It’s not like we’re taking handouts, it’s a job. We work and we get paid and we take cuts like everyone else. Ya’ll make it sound like public workers don’t deserve any benefits and you resent the fact that we even get paid at all.

I don’t resent anyone in the private sector getting a raise or a paycheck or benefits but there sure seem to be a lot of people who don’t think anyone that happens to work for the state or the feds should be given the same. We seem to fall in the category as a bunch of freeloaders. I work the same 40 hour week as a lot of you folks yet I’m not entitled to a decent wage or benefits because I happen to be employed by the state I live in? That’s a crock.

I worked for the State of New Jersey for many years, beginning in 1974, including several years as a staff person in the Legislature. I know what it was like.

During all of those years, trust me when I tell you, NJEA absolutely OWNED Trenton.

It really didn’t matter who was in charge Ds or Rs — although for the vast majority of those years, the Legislature was controlled by the Democrats.

Those years were ones in which the Governor’s office was more equally divided between R & D Administrations, with a slight edge to the Ds in terms of the number pf yuears they were in charge.

Simply put, I have waited all of my adult life to hear a New Jersey Governor talk like this. I never thought I’d see it. Never.

Furthermore, I do not even remotely understand the obnoxious title of this post. This guy is a class act, and that is political courage you are witnessing. He spoke respectfully but honestly to that officer, and I can tell you that the people of New Jersey are getting it.

The Christie ads trying to lure businesses out of Illinois are very funny (Eyeblast link).

Chicago radio stations have been running them for the past few days and Governor “Tax and Spend” Quinn is livid.

Fallon on January 27, 2011 at 6:08 PM

Christie isn’t the first Governor to try to lure businesses out of Illinois–the Governor of Wisconsin also did it when Quinn first signed the tax increase. Wisconsin is a lot closer, although New Jersey has a better climate.

Simply put, I have waited all of my adult life to hear a New Jersey Governor talk like this. I never thought I’d see it. Never.

Furthermore, I do not even remotely understand the obnoxious title of this post. This guy is a class act, and that is political courage you are witnessing. He spoke respectfully but honestly to that officer, and I can tell you that the people of New Jersey are getting it.

Trochilus on January 27, 2011 at 11:33 PM

Much agreed. Christie is an unprecedented break from NJ’s past–the Kean’s and Whitman’s weren’t much better than the Florio’s and Corzine’s. The post’s title appears to be affectionate.

I really like Christie. But, with all due respect, it seems stange that a 400 pound guy wants to be the spokesman for dicipline. He needs to lead by example and tighten his belt by pushing away from the table. If he doesn’t, his oponents will have some real fodder to hammer him. He needs to demonstrate that he has personal dicipline in his own life.

I really like Christie. But, with all due respect, it seems stange that a 400 pound guy wants to be the spokesman for dicipline. He needs to lead by example and tighten his belt by pushing away from the table. If he doesn’t, his oponents will have some real fodder to hammer him. He needs to demonstrate that he has personal dicipline in his own life.

saiga on January 28, 2011 at 10:12 AM

Yeah. Because fat jokes worked so well for the Corzine campaign when they made them.

Cindy, I think I got that “Christie porn” was intended both as a complimentary reference, and even as humor. But I disagree that it was a complementary reference. There is a key difference.

I guess I “snapped” at the characterization because I thought it so completely missed the point. I don’t want to claim that a definition can easily or even fairly capture the emotive extent of an expression, but in general terms, even a complimentary “porn” reference usually attaches to something that is relatively devoid of content, but which nevertheless induces a considerable level of fascination.

Christie’s response to the policeman was the exact opposite . . . it was an appeal to reason. In the potentially charged atmosphere of a town hall setting, Chris was taking the issue on with a straight-up explanation to a public servant, respectfully and thoroughly responding to a legitimate concern raised by the officer as to what Christie’s policies will mean in his life.

Was it a “fascination-inducing” exchange? No question about that! But was it in any way devoid of content? Not even for a second! Therefore, I don’t see it as a “complementary” reference at all.

It just doesn’t fit.

Christie has a quality that has been missing from virtually every state-wide political figure in New Jersey for as long as I can remember. It is the ability to say “we cannot do that” and to explain the reason why . . . i.e., we cannot dig our way out of this huge hole, and you, sir, are “a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” We need to put the shovels down, and start looking for a ladder!

I suppose the ultimate test of Chris Christie as a politician will be his ability to put in place policies that will transcend just “hitting the brakes,” and instead become everyday tests of the government’s ability to control spending, while making sensible judgments in meeting legitimate public needs.

Democrats have summarily destroyed all such efforts in the past. Former Governor Tom Kean created the Transportation Trust Fund to provide a stable funding source for state infrastructure projects back in the ’80s. Ultimately, Jim McGreevey and his post-resignation fill-in, Senator Dick Codey, spent it into the ground so that all new monies coming in went directly to paying debt service!

And, when statewide hopes then turned to supposed financial genius, Jon Corzine, he instead played out the role of the riddler, taunting the public with unworkable plans, but never solving the problem.

I like Christie… BUT… he said that there is no inflation. I call Bull Sh*T. Buy gas, bread and milk… Soup, cereal and electricity… And my turnpike ride just went up 10% for 2011, and went up not too many years ago by 25%…….. So hey Christie. Bull on the no inflation claim.
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Keep doing what you’re doing, but don’t start blowing smoke up my a**.
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That is all.
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Dear GOP,
Missile defense shield by thy big tent.
You’re going to have to make choices.
Our military is broke.
Help our economic engine.
Sincerely,
Need more small business owners and private sector workers in the hospitality tent and Christie’s radio spots are a helpful reminder and easy sell. (Shh, so TEA Party but I wont tell. Keep the pressure on for 2012.)

Here is an exit question for you AP since you find advertising free market capitalism fun (in a dismissive way?), [url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/praveenswami/100073474/russias-new-age-terrorist-and-what-he-tells-us-about-the-global-jihadist-movement/]shouldn’t we offer real political alternatives learning from our pop culture adversaries? [/url] After all, our enemies have: “Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, who proclaimed that the “language of war is killing,” was quoting, almost verbatim, from the writings of Carl von Clausewitz. In his recent statements, Osama bin-Laden has borrowed the language of the environmental movement and New Left. Basayev, of course, read an author beloved of Oprah fans.”

P.S. [url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jeremywarner/100009416/camerons-chinese-slur/]Is Illinois more precious than China?[/url] “Yet there’s no doubt that Western democracies need to rediscover some of the dynamism that made them great. [b]If insulting the Chinese is part of what it takes to bring the Eurocrats to their senses on the ever mounting weight of bureaucratic gobbledegook they are piling on to their dying economies, then it is a price well worth paying.”[/b]

Dear GOP,
Missile defense shield by thy big tent.
You’re going to have to make choices.
Help our economic engine.
Sincerely,
Need more small business owners and private sector workers in the hospitality tent and Christie’s radio spots are a helpful reminder and easy sell. (Shhhh, so TEA Party but I wont tell. Keep the pressure on for 2012.)

P.S. Is Illinois more precious than China? “Yet there’s no doubt that Western democracies need to rediscover some of the dynamism that made them great. If insulting the Chinese is part of what it takes to bring the Eurocrats to their senses on the ever mounting weight of bureaucratic gobbledegook they are piling on to their dying economies, then it is a price well worth paying.”